Scented decorative grass having an appearance simulating the appearance of cloth

ABSTRACT

Scented decorative grasses having an appearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth are disclosed, as are methods for making such scented decorative grasses from materials wherein at least one surface of the material is modified to simulate the appearance and/or texture of cloth.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/612,535now U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,735 filed Jul. 7, 2000, entitled “DECORATIVEGRASS HAVING AN APPEARANCE SIMULATING THE APPEARANCE OF CLOTH”.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to scented polymeric materials having anappearance simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof, andmore particularly but not by way of limitation, to scented flower potcovers, scented floral wrappings, scented ribbon materials and scenteddecorative grasses made from such scented polymeric materials. In oneaspect, the present invention relates to methods for producing scentedflower pot covers and methods of wrapping floral groupings and flowerpots with a scented sheet of polymeric material having an appearancesimulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof to provide ascented decorative cover for such floral groupings and flower pots. Inyet another aspect, the present invention relates to methods ofproducing scented decorative grasses having an appearance or texturesimulating the appearance or texture of cloth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a scented sheet of polymeric materialhaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereofconstructed in accordance with the present invention, one corner of thescented sheet of polymeric material turned upwardly.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the scented sheet of polymeric materialhaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereofof FIG. 1 wherein a bonding material is disposed along one edge thereof,one corner of the scented sheet of polymeric material upwardly turned.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the scented sheet of polymeric materialhaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereofof FIG. 2 having a floral grouping disposed thereon.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the floral grouping of FIG. 3 beingwrapped with the scented sheet of polymeric material having a finishsimulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof of FIG. 2 by onemethod of wrapping.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a scented decorative cover for thefloral grouping formed from the scented sheet of polymeric material ofFIG. 2 wherein the scented decorative cover formed from the scentedsheet of polymeric material has a conical configuration.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a scented decorative cover formed fromthe scented sheet of polymeric material of FIG. 2 wherein a floralgrouping is wrapped with the scented sheet of polymeric material havinga finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof by asecond method of wrapping so that the scented decorative cover having afinish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof has asubstantially cylindrical configuration.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a scented decorative cover positionedabout a flower pot wherein the scented decorative cover is formed fromthe scented sheet of polymeric material having a finish simulating theappearance of cloth on a surface thereof of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a flower pot cover former and bandapplicator apparatus having the scented sheet of polymeric materialhaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereofof FIG. 1 disposed above an opening of the flower pot cover former andband applicator and having a flower pot disposed above the scented sheetof polymeric material having a finish simulating the appearance of clothon a surface thereof.

FIG. 9A is a perspective view of a scented sheet of expanded corepolymeric film having a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on asurface thereof wherein an acrylic heat sealable lacquer is disposed onat least one surface thereof, one corner of the scented sheet ofexpanded core polymeric film upwardly turned.

FIG. 9B is a perspective view of a scented sheet of laminated materialwherein one surface is modified or textured to provide the scented sheetof laminated material with a finish simulating the appearance of clothon a surface thereof, one corner of the scented sheet of laminatedmaterial upwardly turned.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a scented preformed pot cover formedfrom a scented sheet of the polymeric material having a finishsimulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof similar to thescented sheet of polymeric material of FIG. 1, the scented sheet of theexpanded core polymeric film of FIG. 9A, or the scented sheet oflaminated material of FIG. 9B.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the scented preformed pot cover of FIG.10 having a flower pot disposed therein.

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic, cross-sectional view of a male and femalemold having the scented sheet of expanded core polymeric film of FIG. 9Adisposed therebetween for forming the scented preformed pot cover ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a scented floral sleeve formed from thescented sheet of polymeric material having a finish simulating theappearance of cloth on a surface thereof.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the scented floral sleeve of FIG. 13disposed about a floral grouping.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a scented floral sleeve having acinching member wherein the scented floral sleeve is formed from ascented sheet of polymeric material having a finish simulating theappearance of cloth on a surface thereof.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the scented floral sleeve of FIG. 15disposed about a floral grouping.

FIG. 17 is an elevational view of a scented sleeve having a detachableportion wherein the scented sleeve is formed from a scented sheet ofpolymeric material having a finish simulating the appearance of cloth ona surface thereof.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the scented sleeve of FIG. 17 having aflower pot disposed therein.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of a flower pot disposed in the scentedsleeve of FIG. 17 wherein an upper portion of the sleeve has beenremoved to provide a scented decorative cover having a skirt.

FIG. 20A is a perspective view of a scented polymeric ribbon materialhaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth on a surface thereof.

FIG. 20B is a perspective view of a scented polymeric ribbon materialformed of an expanded core polymeric film and having a finish simulatingthe appearance of cloth on a surface thereof.

FIG. 20C is a perspective view of a scented laminated polymeric ribbonwherein at least one surface of the scented laminated polymeric ribbonis modified or textured to provide the scented laminated polymericribbon with a finish simulating the appearance of cloth.

FIG. 21 is a schematic representation of a system for making scenteddecorative grass having a texture or appearance simulating the textureor appearance of cloth in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 22A is a perspective view of a segment of scented decorative grasshaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth produced from ascented polymeric material having a finish simulating the appearance ofcloth on a surface thereof.

FIG. 22B is a perspective view of a segment of scented decorative grasshaving a finish simulating the appearance of cloth produced from ascented laminated polymeric material having a finish simulating theappearance of cloth on a surface thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Description of FIGS. 1-9

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, designated generally by the referencenumeral 10 is a scented sheet or web of polymeric material having atexture. and/or appearance 12 simulating the texture and/or appearanceof cloth (hereinafter referred to as the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 or the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having acloth-like appearance). That is, at least one surface of the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 has been modified to provide a matte ortextured finish 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth.The term “finish simulating the appearance of cloth” may be usedinterchangeably with the terms “cloth-appearing textured or mattefinish”, “cloth-like finish” and “cloth-like appearance”.

The term “appearance or texture simulating the appearance or texture ofcloth” as used herein will be understood to include textures and/orappearances and/or surface modifications of a polymeric material suchthat the polymeric material is provided with at least one surfacethereof which simulates the texture or appearance of a woven material, anonwoven material, a welded material, a spun bonded material, or aknitted or pressed fabric of fibrous material. The term “appearance ortexture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth” as used hereinwill also be understood to include textures and/or appearancessimulating the texture or appearance of cotton, wool, silk, hair,burlap, and linen, as well as synthetic fibers such as rayon andpolyester, and blends thereof, such as denim. While different types ofcloth have been disclosed hereinabove, it will be understood that apolymeric material having at least one surface thereof modified suchthat the surface is provided with a texture or appearance simulating thetexture or appearance of cloth of the present invention will not belimited to appearances simulating the types of cloth described herein,and the texture or appearance may simulate other types of cloth whichfall within the scope of the invention.

The modification of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 toprovide the sheet of polymeric material with a matte or textured finish12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can be accomplishedin several ways. For example, a matte finish can be provided by printinga desired pattern on the sheet of polymeric material and thereafterlaminating a matte material, such as a translucent polymeric film, overthe printed pattern. To further enhance the appearance or texture 12simulating the appearance or texture of cloth of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10, the matte material may or may not have aplurality of spatially disposed holes extending therethrough. A matte ortextured finish simulating the appearance of cloth can also be producedby printing a sheet of polymeric material with a matted (i.e. dullfinish) ink, by lacquering at least one surface of the sheet ofpolymeric material with a dull finish lacquer or a matting lacquer, byembossing the sheet of polymeric material to provide an embossed patternsimulating the weave or texture of cloth, or by flocking the sheet ofpolymeric material, or by application of a foamable lacquer or foamableink to the sheet of polymeric material, or by embossing and printing thesheet of polymeric material to provide embossed and printed patternswherein the embossed and printed patterns may be in registry, out ofregistry, or wherein a portion of the embossed and printed patterns arein registry and a portion of the embossed and printed patterns are outof registry. In addition, a matte or textured finish capable ofproviding the sheet of polymeric material with a texture and/orappearance simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth can beachieved by extruding a polymeric resin onto a matted or textured chillroll or by laminating a second sheet of material to the sheet ofpolymeric material. The texture and/or appearance 12 simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth can also be achieved by flocking thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 or by application of a foamablelacquer or foamable ink to the scented sheet of polymeric material 10.

The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having an appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth has anupper surface 14, a lower surface 16, and an outer peripheral edge 18.At least one surface of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10, suchas the lower surface 16, is matted or textured as described above toprovide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 with an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth. Theouter peripheral edge 18 of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10comprises a first side 20, a second side 22, a third side 24, and afourth side 26. A bonding material 27 (FIG. 2) may be disposed on atleast a portion of one or both of the upper and lower surfaces 14 and 16of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10, such as the upper surface14 thereof as shown in FIG. 2 and as further illustrated in U.S. Pat.No. 5,181,364, entitled “WRAPPING A FLORAL GROUPING WITH SHEETS HAVINGADHESIVE OR COHESIVE MATERIAL APPLIED THERETO”, issued to Weder on Jan.26, 1993, the specification of which is hereby expressly incorporatedherein by reference.

The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having at least one surfacethereof modified so as to provide the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 with an appearance and/or texture 12 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth may be employed to provide a scenteddecorative cover for a floral grouping (FIGS. 3 through 6); or to form ascented decorative cover for a flower pot (FIG. 7); or to form a scentedpreformed flower pot cover for covering a flower pot (FIGS. 10 and 11);or to provide a scented sleeve for wrapping or covering a floralgrouping (FIGS. 13 through 16) or a flower pot (FIGS. 17 through 19); orto provide a scented ribbon material having an appearance and/or texturesimulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth (FIG. 20A through20C); or to produce scented decorative grass (FIGS. 21 through 22B). Theuse of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth toform a scented decorative cover for a floral grouping or a flower pot,or to form a scented sleeve for a floral grouping or a flower pot, or toform a scented preformed flower pot cover, or as a scented ribbonmaterial or to produce scented decorative grasses will be described inmore complete detail herein.

The sheet of polymeric material 10 is further provided with a scent 28disposed on at least a-portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces 14and 16 thereof, such as the lower surface 16 as shown in FIG. 1. Theterm “scent” as used herein refers to any odor or combination of odorsnormally associated with an object, such as a fruit, vegetable, orspice, and which are desired for a particular application. Examples ofsuch scents include odors normally associated with flowers, plants,fruits, vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments (such as honey,sugar, salt), herbs, spices, woods, roots and the like. Such scents areknown in the art and are commercially available. The scent 28 may beapplied to the sheet of polymeric material 10 prior to or followingapplication of the texture or appearance 12 simulating the texture orappearance of cloth. Alternatively, the scent 28 may be appliedsimultaneously with the application of the texture or appearance 12simulating the texture or appearance of cloth, such as by incorporationof the scent 28 in an ink or foamable ink which is printed on the sheetof polymeric material 10 or a lacquer or foamable lacquer which isdisposed on the sheet of polymeric material 10 to provide the texture orappearance 12 simulating the texture or appearance of cloth. In afurther alternative, the scent 28 may be incorporated into the resinfrom which the sheet of polymeric material 10 is formed prior toformation of the sheet of polymeric material 10.

The scent 28 applied to the sheet of polymeric material 10 may beindicative of a characteristic of an intended use of the sheet ofpolymeric material 10. For example, a sheet of polymeric material 10formed into a decorative cover or sleeve for a floral grouping or flowerpot may be scented with an odor normally associated with a particularflower, such as roses, lilacs gardenias, wisteria, hydrangea,honeysuckle, and the like, or a particular plant, such as aloe vera,mint, eucalyptus or evergreen. In addition, decorative grass formed fromthe sheet of polymeric material 10 may be scented with an odor normallyassociated with a particular object packaged in a container in which thedecorative grass serves as a packing material, such as fruits andvegetables, including peaches, grapes, apples, oranges, lemons, limes,raspberries, bananas, cranberries, pumpkins and the like, or brands ofperfumes, or spices, such as sage, cinnamon, vanilla and the like.Further, the sheet of polymeric material 10 may also be scented with anodor normally associated with a particular type of cloth which the sheetof polymeric material 10 simulates in texture and appearance. Forexample, raw silk has a unique texture as well as odor, and the sheet ofpolymeric material 10 may be scented with the odor normally associatedwith raw silk.

As noted above, the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having theappearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be utilized to form a scented decorative cover for a floralgrouping or a flower pot. The term “flower pot” as used herein refers toany type of container for holding a floral grouping, or a plant, or evenanother pot-type container. Examples of flower pots and/or pot-typecontainers include, but are not limited to, clay pots, wooden pots,plastic pots, pots made from natural and/or synthetic fibers, or anycombination thereof. Such flower pots and/or pot-type containers areprovided with a retaining space for receiving a floral grouping. Thefloral grouping may be disposed within the retaining space of the flowerpot with a suitable growing medium described in further detail below, orother retaining medium, such as a floral foam. It will also beunderstood that in some cases the floral grouping, and any appropriategrowing medium or other retaining medium, may be disposed in a scentedsleeve formed from the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 if thescented sleeve is adapted to contain a medium.

“Floral grouping” as used herein means cut fresh flowers, artificialflowers, a single flower or other fresh and/or artificial plants orother floral materials and may include other secondary plants and/orornamentation or artificial or natural materials which add to theaesthetics of the overall floral grouping. Further, the floral groupingmay comprise a growing potted plant having a root portion as well.However, it will be appreciated that the floral grouping may consist ofonly a single bloom or only foliage, or a botanical item (not shown), ora propagule. The term “floral grouping” may be used interchangeablyherein with the term “floral arrangement”. The term “floral grouping”may also be used interchangeably herein with the terms “botanical item”and/or “propagule.”

The term “growing medium” when used herein means any liquid, solid orgaseous material used for plant growth or for the cultivation ofpropagules, including organic and inorganic materials such as soil,humus, perlite, vermiculite, sand, water, and including the nutrients,fertilizers or hormones or combinations thereof required by the plantsor propagules for growth.

The term “botanical item” when used herein means a natural or artificialherbaceous or woody plant, taken singularly or in combination. The term“botanical item” also means any portion or portions of natural orartificial herbaceous or woody plants including stems, leaves, flowers,blossoms, buds, blooms, cones, or roots, taken singularly or incombination, or in groupings of such portions such as bouquets or floralgroupings.

The term “propagule” when used herein means any structure capable ofbeing propagated or acting as an agent of reproduction including seeds,shoots, stems, runners, tubers, plants, leaves, roots or spores.

In the embodiments shown in the drawings, the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 having an appearance and/or texture 12 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth is square. It will be appreciated,however, that the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having anappearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be of any shape, configuration or size as long as the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 is sufficiently sized and shaped to wrapand encompass a floral grouping or a flower pot. For example, thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 may have a rectangular, round,oval, octagonal or asymmetrical shape. Further, multiple scented sheetsof polymeric material 10 may be used in a single circumstance to providea scented decorative cover or a scented sleeve for a floral grouping ora flower pot. Moreover, when multiple scented sheets of polymericmaterial 10 having an appearance and/or texture 12 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth are used in combination, the sheetsof polymeric material 10 need not-be uniform in size or shape. Finally,it will be appreciated that the scented sheet of polymeric material 10having an appearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth shown herein is a substantially flat sheet except forthe texturing, matting, embossing, flocking, application of a foamablelacquer or foamable ink, or other treatments and techniques employed toprovide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 with the desiredtexture or matting so that the scented sheet of polymeric material 10has the appearance of cloth.

Any thickness or stiffness of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10may be utilized in accordance with the present invention as long as atleast one surface of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 can bemodified to provide the sheet of polymeric material with an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth andthe scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having an appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can bewrapped about at least a portion of a floral grouping or a flower pot,as described herein. Generally, the scented sheet of polymeric material10 will have a thickness in a range of from about 0.1 mil to about 30mil, and more desirably a thickness in a range of from about 0.5 mil toabout 10 mil.

The terms “polymer film”, “polymeric film” and “polymeric material” whenused herein refers to a synthetic polymer such as a polypropylene or apolyethylene, a naturally occurring polymer such as cellophane, anextruded polymeric material having an expanded core such as extrudedpolypropylene having an expanded core and combinations thereof. Theextruded polymeric material having an expanded core may also be referredto herein as an expanded core polymeric material.

“Extruded polymeric material having an expanded core” or “expanded corepolymeric film” as used herein refers to any extrudable polymericmaterial or polymeric film in which the core is expanded duringextrusion, such as by incorporation of a blowing agent in the polymericresin which is being extruded.

The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 may also be constructed, inwhole or in part, from a cling material. “Cling material” when usedherein refers any material which is capable of connecting to the sheetof material and/or itself upon contacting engagement during the wrappingprocess and is wrappable about an item whereby portions of the clingmaterial contactingly engage and connect to other portions of anothermaterial, or, alternatively to itself, for generally securing thematerial wrapped about at least a portion of a flower pot. Thisconnecting engagement is preferably temporary in that the material maybe easily removed, i.e., the cling material “clings” to the flower pot.

The cling material is constructed from polyethylene such as Cling Wrapmade by Glad®, First Brands Corporation, Danbury, Conn., and treated ifnecessary. The thickness of the cling material will depend, in part,upon the size of sleeve or cover and the size of the flower pot orfloral grouping in the sleeve or cover, i.e., generally, a larger flowerpot may require a thicker and therefore stronger cling material than asmaller flower pot or floral grouping. The cling material will range inthickness from about 0.1 mil to about 10 mil, and more desirably fromabout 0.5 mil to about 2.5 mil. However, any thickness of cling materialmay be utilized in accordance with the present invention which permitsthe cling material to be modified as hereinbefore described to providethe cling material with an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth.

A scented decorative cover for a floral grouping (FIGS. 3 through 6), ora scented decorative cover for a flower pot (FIG. 7), or a scentedpreformed flower pot cover for covering a flower pot (FIGS. 10 and 11),or a scented sleeve for wrapping or covering a floral grouping (FIGS. 13through 16) or a flower pot (FIGS. 17 through 19), or a scented ribbonmaterial having an appearance and/or texture simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth (FIGS. 20A through 20C), or scented decorativegrass (FIGS. 21 through 22B) may also be constructed of a scentedlaminated material (FIG. 9B). The scented laminated material having atleast one surface thereof modified to provide the laminated materialwith an appearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth can be produced by laminating two or more sheets ofpolymeric film (such as two or more sheets of polypropylene film or asheet of polypropylene film and a sheet of expanded core polymeric film,such as expanded core polypropylene film), or by laminating a polymericfilm (such as polypropylene film or an expanded core polymeric film) topaper, metallized foil and the like, wherein at least one surface of thescented laminated material is textured or modified to assimilate theweave or texture of cloth. The only requirements in using a scentedlaminated material having an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth to form a scented decorative coverfor a floral grouping, or a scented decorative cover for a flower pot,or a scented preformed flower pot cover for covering a flower pot, or ascented sleeve for wrapping or covering a floral grouping or a flowerpot, or as scented ribbon material or scented decorative grass inaccordance with the present invention is that at least one surface ofthe scented laminated material be capable of being modified to providethe scented laminated material with at least one surface having anappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth and that the scented laminated material be sufficiently flexibleor pliable to permit the laminated material to be formed into a scenteddecorative cover for a floral grouping, or a scented decorative coverfor a flower pot, or a scented preformed flower pot cover for covering aflower pot, or a scented sleeve for wrapping or covering a floralgrouping or a flower pot, or to be used as scented ribbon material orscented decorative grass. It should also be noted that two or moreseparate sheets of material can be used to form a scented decorativecover for a floral grouping, or a scented decorative cover for a flowerpot, or a scented preformed flower pot cover for covering a flower pot,or a scented sleeve for wrapping or covering a floral grouping or aflower pot as long as one of the sheets of material is modified ortextured to provide same with an appearance and/or texture simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth.

The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 or a scented laminatedmaterial (FIG. 9B) having an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth may vary in color. Further, thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 or a scented laminated materialmay comprise other decorative patterns or designs in addition to thematting, texturing, flocking, application of foamable lacquers orfoamable inks, or embossing employed to impart the appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth to thescented sheet of polymeric material or the scented laminated material.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 hasa width 30 extending generally between the first side 20 and the secondside 22, respectively, sufficiently sized whereby the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 can be wrapped about and encompass a floralgrouping or a flower pot. The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 hasa length 32 extending generally between the third side 24 and the fourthside 26 thereof, respectively, sufficiently sized whereby the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 extends over a substantial portion of thefloral grouping when the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 has beenwrapped about the floral grouping in accordance with the presentinvention, as described in detail herein. The scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 may also be wrapped about a flower pot to substantially wrapand cover the flower pot in accordance with the present invention.

A plurality of scented sheets of polymeric material 10 having theappearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth may be connected together to form a roll as is shown in U.S. Pat.No. 5,459,976, issued to Weder et al. on Oct. 24, 1995, entitled“MATERIAL AND ADHESIVE STRIP DISPENSER”, the specification of which ishereby expressly incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate the use of the scented sheet of polymeric material10 having an appearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth in wrapping a floral grouping 34 to provide ascented decorative cover 36 (FIG. 5) for the floral grouping 34, whereinthe scented decorative cover 36 has an open upper end 38 and a lower end40. The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 has a strip of bondingmaterial disposed upon the upper surface 14 and/or the lower surface 16thereof, such as the strip of bonding material 27 disposed along atleast a portion of the upper surface 14 of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 so as to be disposed substantially adjacent thefourth side 26 thereof, substantially as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.Further, the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having theappearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be provided either as an individual sheet or from a pad orroll of material.

The bonding material 27 may have a backing or release strip (not shown).The backing or release strip may be left applied for a period of time tothe bonding material 27 after it is disposed on a surface of the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 prior to its use as a wrapping materialto protect the bonding qualities of the strip of bonding material 27.

In operation, an operator may dispose the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 having the appearance and/or texture 12 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth on a support surface 41 such that thelower surface 16 of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 (whichhas been modified to provide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10with the appearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth) is in contact with the support surface 41.

Referring more specifically to FIGS. 3-5, the floral grouping 34 isplaced upon the upper surface 14 of the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 in a diagonal orientation. The floral grouping 34 has anupper bloom or foliage portion 42 and a lower stem portion 44. Thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 is then wrapped about the floralgrouping 34 by the operator (FIGS. 4 and 5), the operator overlapping aportion of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 over anotherportion of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10. That is, forexample, the operator places the first side 20 of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 over the floral grouping 34, as shown in FIG. 4.The operator rolls the floral grouping 34 and the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 in the direction toward the second side 22 of thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 (FIG. 4) until the upper surface14 near the fourth side 26 firmly engages the lower surface 16 of thescented sheet of polymeric material 10, wherein the floral grouping 34is substantially encompassed by the scented sheet of polymeric material10, and wherein the bonding material 27 contacts the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 to provide the scented decorative cover 36 (FIG.5) having the appearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth which substantially encompasses and surrounds asubstantial portion of the floral grouping 34. FIG. 5 shows the floralgrouping 34 wrapped in a conical fashion to provide the scenteddecorative cover 36 for the floral grouping 34 which has the appearanceof being made of a cloth material. When the floral grouping 34 iswrapped in a conical fashion, the bloom portion 42 of the floralgrouping 34 is positioned substantially adjacent the open upper end 38of the scented decorative cover 36, and the stem portion 44 of thefloral grouping 34 is positioned substantially adjacent the lower end 40of the scented decorative cover 36. The bloom portion 42 and/or the stemportion 44 of the floral grouping 34 may be exposed or may be containedwithin the scented decorative cover 36.

The scent 28 may be disposed on the upper surface 14 and/or the lowersurface 16 of the sheet of polymeric material 10 such that the scent 28may be provided on an outer or inner surface of the scented decorativecover 36, depending on the type of scent 28 used, the desired amount ofscent 28 to be released by the decorative cover 36, and the desiredapplication thereof. That is, it may be desired to place the scent 28 onthe upper surface 14 of the sheet of polymeric material 10, andtherefore an inner surface of the decorative cover 36, so that the scent28 is in close approximation to the floral grouping 34, and so that noneof the scent 28 will rub off on the hands of a person carrying thedecorative cover 36 or on a transport or display container in which thedecorative cover 36 is disposed. Alternatively, it may be desired toplace the scent 28 on the lower surface 16 of the sheet of polymericmaterial 10, and therefore on an outer surface of the decorative cover36, so that the scent 28 is not disposed within the decorative cover 36but is exposed, thereby releasing more of the scent 28, and also so thatdetrimental interactions between the floral grouping 34 and the chemicalcomponents of the scent 28 are minimized.

In another embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 6, the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 having at least one surface thereof modified toprovide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 with an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth(FIG. 2) is utilized to wrap the floral grouping 34 in a cylindricalfashion. The floral grouping 34 is disposed upon the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 approximately parallel to the third side 24 of thescented sheet of polymeric material 10. The scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 is wrapped generally about the stem portion 44 of the floralgrouping 34 to a position wherein the fourth side 26 of the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 generally overlaps the third side 24 ofthe scented sheet of polymeric material 10 in a cylindrical fashion. Itshould be noted that the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 may bewrapped a plurality of times about the stem portion 44 of the floralgrouping 34 before the overlapping of the third side 24 and the fourthside 26 of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10. As before, theportion of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 near the fourthside 26 is disposed generally adjacent another portion of the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10, and the two adjacent-portions then arebrought into contact where they may be bondingly engaged, therebysecuring the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 generally about thefloral grouping 34 so as to provide a scented decorative cover 36 a forthe floral grouping 34 which has the appearance of being fabricated ofcloth.

In another version of the invention, the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 having at least one surface thereof modified so as toprovide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 with an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth andcontaining the scent 28 may be used to wrap a flower pot or pot-typecontainer, as noted above. Shown in FIG. 7 is a flower pot designated bythe reference numeral 50 having an open upper end 52, a bottom end 54,an outer peripheral surface 56, and an inner retaining space 58 withinwhich may be disposed a growing medium. The flower pot 50 may contain abotanical item, such as a plant 60, which has an upper portion 62comprising blooms or foliage or both.

The scented sheet of polymeric material 10 having the appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth may bewrapped about the flower pot 50 by any one of numerous methods used towrap sheets of material about flower pots to form decorative pot coversfor flower pots, such as a scented decorative cover 63 having theappearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth disposed about the flower pot 50 illustrated in FIG. 7. Thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 may, for example, be formed byhand about the outer peripheral surface 56 of the flower pot 50 toproduce the scented decorative cover 63 which has the appearance ofbeing fabricated of cloth. The scented decorative cover 63 can then besecured about the flower pot 50 by a bonding material or by an elasticband 64 such that the open upper end 52 of the flower pot 50 remainssubstantially uncovered by the scented decorative cover 63,substantially as shown in FIG. 7.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a flower pot cover former and band applicatorapparatus 66 for forming the scented sheet of polymeric material 10having the appearance and/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth into the scented decorative cover 63 for the flower pot50 of FIG. 7 is illustrated. The flower pot cover former and bandapplicator apparatus 66 comprises a band applicator 68 and a flower potcover former 70. The flower pot cover former and band applicatorapparatus 66 has a support platform 72 with an opening 74 formedtherein. A band, such as elastic band 64, is disposed circumferentiallyabout the opening 74 in the support platform 72.

The lower surface 16 of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10(which has been modified to provide the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 with a textured or matted surface simulating cloth) ispositioned on an upper surface 76 on the support platform 72 such thatthe scented sheet of polymeric material 10 is positioned over theopening 74 in the support platform 72. The is flower pot 50 ispositioned above the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 and is movedin a direction 78 into the opening 74 of the flower pot cover former andband applicator apparatus 66. As the flower pot 50 is moved into theopening 74, the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 is pressed aboutthe outer peripheral surface 56 of the flower pot 50, thereby formingthe scented decorative cover 63 about the flower pot 50. The scenteddecorative cover 63 (which has an appearance and/or texture 12simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth) is then secured aboutthe flower pot 50 by the elastic band 64. The flower pot 50 having thescented decorative cover 63 secured thereto is then moved in a direction80 out of the opening 74 in the support platform 72.

The elastic band 64 can be applied manually or automatically, such as bythe method shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,599, entitled “MEANS FORSECURING A DECORATIVE COVER ABOUT A FLOWER POT”, issued to Weder on Apr.21, 1992, which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.The band 64 can also be applied as a tie using a method such asdescribed in “Single Station Covering and Fastening System”, U.S. Pat.No. 5,609,009, issued to Weder et al on Mar. 11, 1997, the specificationof which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 having an appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can also beapplied automatically about the flower pot 50, for example, by methodsshown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,521, entitled “COVER FORMING APPARATUS”,issued to Weder et al. on Mar. 29, 1988, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,721,entitled “COVER FORMING APPARATUS HAVING PIVOTING FORMING MEMBERS”,issued to Weder et al. on Mar. 8, 1994, both of which are herebyexpressly incorporated herein by reference.

Instead of securing the scented decorative cover 63 about the flower pot50 via the band 64, the scented decorative cover 63 formed from thescented sheet of polymeric material 10 having an appearance and/ortexture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth (FIG. 1)may be secured to the flower pot 50 by the use of one or more bondingmaterials. For example, the upper surface 14 of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 may have a bonding material, such as the bondingmaterial 27 (FIG. 2), disposed upon a portion thereof. When the scentedsheet of polymeric material 10 is disposed about the flower pot 50, atleast a portion of the upper surface 14 of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10 contacts the outer peripheral surface 56 of theflower pot 50 and is thereby bonded and held about the flower pot 50 viathe bonding material.

The bonding material 27 may cover a portion of the upper surface 14 ofthe scented sheet of polymeric material 10, or the bonding material 27may entirely cover the upper surface 14 of the scented sheet ofpolymeric material 10. The bonding material 27 may be disposed on theupper surface 14 of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 in theform of a strip or in the form of spaced-apart spots. One method fordisposing the bonding material 27 on the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,637, entitled “MethodFor Wrapping A Floral Grouping”, issued to Weder et al. on May 12, 1992,which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

The term “bonding material” when used herein can mean an adhesive,frequently a pressure sensitive adhesive, a cohesive, or anyadhesive/cohesive combination having adhesive qualities (i.e., qualitiesof adhesion or adhesion/cohesion, respectively) sufficient to cause theattachment of a portion of the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 toitself, to a floral grouping 34, or to a flower pot 50. Since thebonding material 27 may comprise either an adhesive or anadhesive/cohesive combination, it will be appreciated that bothadhesives and cohesives are known in the art, and both are commerciallyavailable. When the bonding material 27 is a cohesive, a similarcohesive material must be placed on the adjacent surface for bondinglycontacting and bondingly engaging with the cohesive material.

The term “bonding material” also includes materials which are heatsealable and, in this instance, the adjacent portions of the materialmust be brought into contact and then heat must be applied to effect theseal. The term “bonding material” also includes materials which aresonically sealable and vibratory sealable. The term “bonding material”when used herein also includes a heat sealing lacquer or hot meltmaterial which may be applied to the material and, in this instance,heat, sound waves, or vibrations, also must be applied to effect thesealing.

The term “bonding material” when used herein also refers to any type ofmaterial or thing which can be used to effect the bonding or connectingof the two adjacent portions of the scented sheet of polymeric material10 to effect the connection or bonding described herein. The term“bonding material” may also include ties, labels, bands, ribbons,strings, tapes (including single or double-sided adhesive tapes),staples or combinations thereof. Some of the bonding materials wouldsecure the ends of the material, while other bonding materials may bindthe circumference of a cover or a sleeve, or, alternatively and/or inaddition, the bonding materials would secure overlapping folds in thematerial and/or sleeve. Another way to secure the cover and/or sleeve isto heat seal the ends of the material to another portion of thematerial. One way to do this is to contact the ends with an iron ofsufficient heat to heat seal the material.

Alternatively, a cold seal adhesive may be utilized as the bondingmaterial. The cold seal adhesive adheres only to a similar substrate,acting similarly as a cohesive, and binds only to itself. The cold sealadhesive, since it bonds only to a similar substrate, does not cause aresidue to build up on equipment, thereby both permitting much morerapid disposition and use of such equipment to form articles andreducing labor costs. Further, since no heat is required to effect theseal, the dwell time, that is, the time for the sheet of material toform and retain the shape of an article, such as a flower pot cover orflower pot, is reduced. A cold seal adhesive binds quickly and easilywith minimal pressure, and such a seal is not readily releasable. Thischaracteristic is different from, for example, a pressure sensitiveadhesive.

The term “bonding material” when used herein also includes any heat orchemically shrinkable material, and static electrical or otherelectrical materials, chemical welding materials, magnetic materials,mechanical or barb-type fastening materials or clamps, curl-typecharacteristics of the film or materials incorporated in material whichcan cause the material to take on certain shapes, cling films, slots,grooves, shrinkable materials and bands, curl materials, springs, andany type of welding method which may weld portions of the material toitself or to the pot, or to both the material itself and the pot.

Description of FIGS. 9-12

Referring now to FIGS. 9A, 10 and 11, a decorative scented preformedflower pot cover 110 illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 is constructed froma scented sheet of flexible material 112 (FIG. 9A) having at least onesurface thereof modified so as to provide the scented sheet of flexiblematerial 112 with an appearance and/or texture 113 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth (FIG. 9A); however, it will beunderstood that the decorative scented preformed flower pot cover 110may also be constructed from a scented sheet of flexible laminatedmaterial 112 a having at least one surface thereof modified so as toprovide the scented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a with anappearance and/or texture 113 a simulating the appearance and/or textureof cloth (FIG. 9B). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9A, the scentedsheet of flexible material 112 used in the construction of thedecorative scented preformed flower pot cover 110 comprises a sheet ofexpanded core polymeric film 114 having an upper surface 116, a lowersurface 118 and a thickness in the range of from about 0.5 mil to about10 mil, more desirably in the range of from about 0.6 mil to about 1.25mil, and a coating of an acrylic heat sealable lacquer 120 disposed onat least one of the upper and lower surfaces 116 and 118 of the sheet ofexpanded core polymeric film 114. In FIG. 9A, the acrylic heat sealablelacquer 120 is depicted as being disposed on the lower surface 118 ofthe scented sheet of flexible material 112. It should be understood,however, that the scented sheet of flexible material 112 is not limitedto being the expanded core polymeric film 114 having the appearanceand/or texture 113 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth;rather, the scented sheet of flexible material 112 can be any flexiblepolymeric material (such as the scented sheet of polymeric material 10herein before described) or flexible laminated material (such as will bedescribed herein after with reference to FIG. 9B) which can be modifiedor textured so that at least one surface of such polymeric material orlaminated material is provided with a finish or texture simulatingcloth.

As previously stated, the modification of at least one surface of thesheet of expanded core polymeric film 114 to provide the scented sheetof flexible material 112 with the desired matte or textured finish 113can be accomplished by printing a desired pattern on the sheet ofexpanded core polymeric film 114 and thereafter laminating a mattematerial, such as a translucent polymeric film, over the printedpattern. To further enhance the appearance and/or texture 113 simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth, the matte material may or maynot have a plurality of spatially disposed holes extending therethrough.A matte or textured finish simulating the appearance of cloth can alsobe produced by printing the sheet of expanded core polymeric film 114with a matted (i.e. dull finish) ink, by lacquering at least one surfaceof the sheet of expanded core polymeric film 114 with a dull finishlacquer or a matting lacquer, by embossing the sheet of expanded corepolymeric film 114 to provide an embossed pattern simulating the weaveor texture of cloth, or by embossing and printing the sheet of expandedcore polymeric film 114 to provide embossed and printed patterns whereinthe embossed and printed patterns may be in registry, out of registry,or wherein a portion of the embossed and printed patterns are inregistry and a portion of the embossed and printed patterns are out ofregistry. In addition, a matte or textured finish capable a providingthe sheet of expanded core polymeric film 114 with an appearance and/ortexture 113 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can beachieved by extruding a polymeric resin onto a matted or textured chillroll to produce the sheet of expanded core polymeric film 114 or bylaminating a second sheet of material to the sheet of expanded corepolymeric film 114.

The sheet of flexible material 112 is further provided with a scent 121on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces 116 and 118 thereof. Thescent 121 is substantially identical to the scent 28 provided on thesheet of polymeric material 10 as described herein before with referenceto FIG. 1, and the scent 121 may be disposed on the sheet of flexiblematerial 112 by any method described herein or known in the art. Thescent 121 may be applied prior to or following application of thetexture and/or appearance 113 simulating the texture and/or appearanceof cloth, or the scent 121 may be applied simultaneously with thetexture and/or appearance 113 simulating the texture and/or appearanceof cloth (i.e., the scent 121 may be incorporated into the ink, foamableink, lacquer or foamable lacquer which is applied to provide the textureand/or appearance 113 simulating the texture and/or appearance ofcloth), or the scent 121 may be incorporated into the resin prior toformation of the sheet of expanded core polymeric film 114. In apreferred embodiment, the scent may be disposed in the acrylic heatsealable lacquer 120 of the scented sheet of flexible material 112.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, when the scented sheet of flexible material112 is formed into the decorative scented preformed flower pot cover110, a plurality of overlapping folds 122 are formed, and at least aportion of the overlapping folds 122 are connected to adjacentlydisposed portions of the scented preformed flower pot cover 110 via theacrylic heat sealable lacquer 120. The decorative scented preformed potcover 110 so formed has an upper end 125, a lower end 126 and an outerperipheral surface 128. An opening 130 intersects the upper end 125,forming an inner peripheral surface 132 which defines and encompasses aretaining space 133 within which a flower pot 134 (FIG. 11) containing afloral grouping 136 may be disposed in a manner well known in the art.The scent 121 may be disposed on the outer peripheral surface 128 or theinner peripheral surface 132 of the scented decorative preformed flowerpot cover 110, depending on the type of scent 121 used and the desiredapplication thereof. It is to be understood that the scent 121 isdepicted as being disposed on the outer peripheral surface 128 of thescented decorative preformed flower pot cover 110 for illustrativepurposes only, and the invention is not limited to such embodiment.

In another embodiment, a scented sheet of flexible laminated material112 a (FIG. 9B) is used in the construction of the decorative scentedpreformed flower pot cover 110. The scented sheet of flexible laminatedmaterial 112 a comprises a first sheet of material 114 a having an uppersurface 116 a and a lower surface 118 a, and a second sheet of material120 a. At least one surface of the first sheet of material 114 a or thesecond sheet of material 120 a is modified to provide the scented sheetof flexible laminated material 112 a with the desired appearance and/ortexture 113 a simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth. Thescented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a having an appearanceand/or texture 113 a simulating the appearance and/or texture of clothcan be produced by laminating two or more sheets of polymeric film (suchas two or more sheets of polypropylene film or a sheet of polypropylenefilm and a sheet of expanded core polymeric film, such as expanded corepolypropylene film), or by laminating a polymeric film (such aspolypropylene film or an expanded core polymeric film) with a sheet ofpaper, metallized foil, polymeric film, or combinations or laminatesthereof, such as a paper/polymeric film laminate, wherein at least onesurface of the laminated material is textured or modified to assimilatethe weave or texture of cloth.

The first sheet of material 114 a desirably has a thickness in a rangeof from about 0.5 mil to about 10 mil, and more desirably from about 0.6mil to about 1.25 mil, and the second sheet of material 120 a desirablyhas a thickness in a range of from about 0.5 mil to about 10 mil, andmore desirably from about 0.6 mil to about 1.25 mil. The second sheet ormaterial 120 a is desirably laminated to the first sheet of material 114a with a colored adhesive so as to impart a desired color to the scentedsheet of flexible laminated material 112 a. While the thickness of thescented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a can vary widely andwill generally depend on the thickness of the first sheet of material114 a and the thickness of the second sheet of material 120 a, desirableresults can be obtained where the scented sheet of flexible laminatedmaterial 112 a has a thickness in the range of from about 1 mil to about20 mil, and more desirably from about 1.2 mil to about 2.5 mil.

The scented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a is furtherprovided with a scent 121 a disposed on at least a portion of one of theupper and lower surfaces 116 a and 118 a thereof, such as the uppersurface 116 a. The scent 121 a is substantially identical to the scent28 provided on the sheet of polymeric material 10 described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 1, and the scent 121 a may be disposed onthe scented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a be any methoddescribed herein or known in the art. The scent may be applied to eitherthe first or second sheets of material 114 a and 120 a prior tolamination, or the scent 121 a may be applied to the scented sheet offlexible laminated material 112 a following lamination. In addition, thescent 121 a may be applied prior to, simultaneously or following theapplication of the texture and/or appearance 113 a simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth.

As previously stated, the decorative scented preformed flower pot cover110 may be constructed from the scented sheet of polymeric material 10(FIG. 1), or the scented sheet of flexible material 112 (FIG. 9A), orthe scented sheet of flexible laminated material 112 a (FIG. 9B). Thescented decorative preformed flower pot cover 110 so formed will have aplurality of overlapping folds 122 formed therein, at least a portionthereof being connected. If desired, the decorative scented preformedflower pot cover 110 can be formed of a plurality of sheets of the sameand/or different types of material. The method and apparatus employed toform the decorative scented preformed flower pot cover 110 issubstantially identical whether one uses one or more scented sheets ofpolymeric material 10 (FIG. 1), one or more scented sheets of flexiblematerial 112 (FIG. 9A), or one or more scented sheets of flexiblelaminated material 112 a (FIG. 9B) or a combination of such sheets ofmaterial. Thus, only the formation of the decorative scented preformedflower pot cover 110 using the scented sheet of flexible material 112 ofFIG. 9A will be described in detail hereinafter.

The decorative scented preformed flower pot cover 110 may be formedusing a conventional mold system 140 comprising a male mold 142 and afemale mold 144 having a mold cavity 146 for matingly receiving the malemold 142 (FIG. 12). The scented sheet of flexible material 112 havingthe texture and/or appearance 113 simulating the texture and/orappearance of cloth is positioned between the male and female molds 142and 144, respectively. Movement of the male mold 142 in the direction148 and into the mold cavity 146 forces the scented sheet of flexiblematerial 112 to be disposed about the portion of the male mold 142disposed in the mold cavity 146 of the female mold 146 and thereby formsthe scented sheet of flexible material 112 into the scented preformeddecorative flower pot cover 110 (FIGS. 10 and 11). Further, inaccordance with the present invention, the decorative scented preformedflower pot cover 110 constructed from the materials described hereinabove may have a bonding material disposed upon a portion thereof.

Methods for forming such preformed decorative pot covers are well knownin the art. Two methods of forming such covers are described in U.S.Pat. No. 4,773,182, entitled “ARTICLE FORMING SYSTEM”, issued to Wederet al. on Sep. 27, 1988, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,721, entitled “COVERFORMING APPARATUS HAVING PIVOTING FORMING MEMBERS”, issued to Weder etal. on Mar. 8, 1994, each of which is expressly incorporated herein byreference.

Description of FIGS. 13-19

Shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 is a scented decorative cover designatedtherein by the general reference numeral 160 which comprises a scentedflexible bag or sleeve 162 of unitary construction having an appearanceand/or texture 163 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth inaccordance with the present invention. The scented sleeve 162 initiallycomprises a flexible flat collapsed piece of material which is openablein the form of a tube or sleeve. Such sleeves are well known in thefloral industry. Further, in accordance with the present invention, thescented decorative cover 160 can be constructed of the scented polymericmaterial 10 (FIG. 1), the scented flexible material 112 (FIG. 9A), orthe scented flexible laminated material 112 a (FIG. 9B), whereby atleast a portion of one surface, preferably an outer peripheral surface164 of the scented sleeve 162, has been modified to provide the scentedsleeve 162 with the appearance and/or texture 163 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth as previously described herein.

The scented sleeve 162 has an upper end 166, a lower end 168 and theouter peripheral surface 164. The scented sleeve 162 may be taperedoutwardly from the lower end 168.toward a larger diameter at its upperend 166. In its flattened state the scented sleeve 162 generally has anoverall trapezoidal or modified trapezoidal shape, and when opened issubstantially frusto-conical to coniform in configuration. It will beappreciated, however, that the scented sleeve 162 may comprisevariations on the aforementioned shapes or may comprise significantlyaltered shapes such as square or rectangular, wherein the scented sleeve162 when opened has a cylindrical form, as long as the scented sleeve162 functions in accordance with the present invention in the mannerdescribed herein. The scented sleeve 162 (or any other sleeve disclosedherein) may have an angular or contoured shape.

The scented sleeve 162 has an opening 170 at the upper end 166 and maybe open at the lower end 168, or closed with a bottom at the lower end168. The scented sleeve 162 also has an inner peripheral surface 172which, when the scented sleeve 162 is opened, defines and encompasses aninner retaining space 174. When the lower end 168 of the scented sleeve162 has a closed lower end 168, a portion of the lower end 168 may beinwardly folded to form one or more gussets (not shown) for allowing thelower portion of the inner retaining space 174 to be expandable, forexample, for receiving the circular bottom of a flower pot or growingmedium.

The scented sleeve 162 is generally frusto-conically shaped, but thescented sleeve 162 may be, by way of example but not by way oflimitation, cylindrical, frusto-conical, a combination of bothfrusto-conical and cylindrical, or any other shape, as long as thescented sleeve 162 functions as described herein as noted above.Further, the scented sleeve 162 may comprise any shape, whethergeometric, non-geometric, asymmetrical and/or fanciful as long as itfunctions in accordance with the present invention. The scented sleeve162 may also be equipped with drain holes (if having a closed bottom) orside ventilation holes (not shown), or can be made from gas permeable orimpermeable materials.

The material from which the scented sleeve 162 is constructed is thesame as previously described above for the scented sheet of polymericmaterial 10 having at least one surface thereof modified so as toprovide the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 with an appearanceand/or texture 12 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth, thescented sheet of flexible material 112 or the scented sheet of flexiblelaminated material 112 a. Any thickness of material may be utilized inaccordance with the present invention as long as the scented sleeve 162may be formed as described herein, is provided with the appearanceand/or texture 163 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth,and as long as the formed scented sleeve 162 may contain at least aportion of a flower pot or a floral grouping,-as described herein.Additionally, an insulating material such as bubble film, preferable asone of two or more layers, can be utilized in order to provideadditional protection for the item, such as a floral grouping, containedtherein.

The sleeve 162 is provided with a scent 175 disposed on at least aportion of one of the outer peripheral surface 164 and inner peripheralsurface 172 thereof. The scent 175 is substantially identical to thescent 28 provided on the sheet of polymeric material 10 as describedherein before with reference to FIG. 1, and the scent 175 may bedisposed on the sleeve 162 by any method described herein or known inthe art. The scent 175 may be applied prior to or following the textureand/or appearance 163 simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth,or simultaneously with the texture and/or appearance 163 simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth. While the scent 175 is shown asbeing disposed on the outer peripheral surface 164 of the sleeve 162, itshould be understood that the scent 175 may be disposed on the innerperipheral surface 172 of the sleeve 162 or on both the outer and innerperipheral surface 164 and 172 of the sleeve 162, depending on the typeof scent 175 used and the desired application of the sleeve 162.

In FIG. 13 the scented sleeve 162 is illustrated having the appearanceand/or texture 163 simulating the appearance and/or texture of clothprovided on the outer peripheral surface 164 of the scented sleeve 162.In FIG. 14, a floral grouping 176 is illustrated as being disposedwithin the inner retaining space 174 of the scented sleeve 162.Generally, an upper or bloom portion 178 of the floral grouping 176 ispositioned substantially adjacent the opening 170 of the scented sleeve162 and a lower or stem portion 180 of the floral grouping 176 ispositioned substantially adjacent the lower end 168 of the scentedsleeve 162. Either the upper end 166 or the lower end 168 of the scentedsleeve 162 may be closed about the floral grouping 176. Generally, aportion of the scented sleeve 162 is tightened about a portion of thestem portion 180 of the floral grouping 176 for holding the scenteddecorative cover 160 about the floral grouping 176. For example, thescented sleeve 162 may be held by a tie 182 tied about the scentedsleeve 162, such as is shown in FIG. 14. Other methods for binding thescented sleeve 162 may be employed, such as the bonding methods andmaterials described elsewhere herein. For example, as shown in FIGS. 15and 16, a scented decorative cover 160 a is shown which comprises ascented sleeve 162 a having an appearance and/or texture 163 asimulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth and a cinching tab 184having a bonding material 186 disposed upon a surface thereof. Thecinching tab 184 can be used to gather portions of the scented sleeve162 atogether about the stem portion 180 of the floral grouping 176 asshown in FIG. 16 for holding the scented sleeve 162 a tightly about thefloral grouping 176.

Referring again to FIGS. 13 and 14, it may generally be desired to usethe scented sleeve 162 as a scented decorative cover for a flower pot,as will be discussed in further detail below. The flower pot willgenerally contain a botanical item or plant. The flower pot can bedeposited into the open scented sleeve 162 in a manner well known in theart, such as manually wherein the scented sleeve 162 is opened by handand the flower pot deposited therein.

As noted above, a bonding material may be disposed on a portion of thescented sleeve 162 or any sleeve described herein to assist in holdingthe scented sleeve 162 to the flower pot when the flower pot is disposedwithin the scented sleeve 162 or to assist in closing the upper end 166of the scented sleeve 162 or adhering the scented sleeve 162 to theflower pot after the flower pot has been disposed therein, as will bediscussed in further detail below.

It will be understood that the bonding material, if present, may bedisposed as a strip or block on a surface of the scented sleeve 162. Thebonding material may also be disposed upon either the outer peripheralsurface 164 or the inner peripheral surface 172 of the scented sleeve162, as well as upon the flower pot. Further, the bonding material maybe disposed as spots of bonding material, or in any other geometric,non-geometric, asymmetric, or fanciful form, and in any pattern,including covering either the entire inner peripheral surface 172 and/orouter peripheral surface 164 of the scented sleeve 162 and/or the flowerpot. The bonding material may be covered by a cover or release stripwhich can be removed prior to the use of the scented sleeve 162 orflower pot. The bonding material can be applied by methods known tothose of ordinary skill in their art. One method for disposing a bondingmaterial, in this case an adhesive, is described in U.S. Pat. No.5,111,637, entitled “METHOD FOR WRAPPING A FLORAL GROUPING”, issued toWeder et al. on May 12, 1993, the specification of which is herebyexpressly incorporated herein by reference.

As noted above, a bonding material may be disposed on at least a portionof the inner peripheral surface 172 of the scented sleeve 162 (or anyother sleeve described herein), or, alternatively, the bonding materialmay be disposed on an outer peripheral surface of a flower pot containedwithin the scented sleeve 162, while the scented sleeve 162 may be freeof the bonding material. In a further alternative, the bonding materialmay be disposed both on at least a portion of a flower pot as well asupon at least a portion of the inner peripheral surface 172 of thescented sleeve 162. In addition, a portion of the bonding material mayalso be disposed on the outer peripheral surface 164 of the scentedsleeve 162 as well. It will be understood that the bonding material maybe disposed in a solid section of bonding material. The bondingmaterial, when present, is disposed on the scented sleeve 162 and/orflower pot by any method known in the art.

Certain versions of sleeves described herein may be used in combinationwith a preformed pot cover. For example, a preformed pot cover may beapplied to the pot, then the covered pot wrapped or disposed within asleeve. Either the cover or the sleeve, or both, may have an appearanceand/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth.Examples of sleeves which may be used in this invention are shown in thespecification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,979, entitled “SLEEVE HAVING ADETACHABLE PORTION FORMING A SKIRT AND METHODS”, issued to Weder on May6, 1997, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. Equipment and devices for forming sleeves are commerciallyavailable, and well known in the art.

Shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 is another embodiment of a scented decorativecover 160 b comprising a scented sleeve 162 b having an appearanceand/or texture 163 b simulating the appearance and/or texture of clothconstructed from the scented polymeric material 10, or the scentedflexible material 112 or the scented flexible laminated material 112 ain accordance with the present invention. The scented sleeve 162 b has a“detaching” element 165 in predetermined areas for detaching a portionof the scented sleeve 162 b. The scented sleeve 162 b generallyinitially comprises a flexible flat collapsed piece of material which isopenable in the form of a tube or sleeve. The scented sleeve 162 b isconstructed of the same material and in the same way as describedpreviously herein and may be described exactly the same as the othersleeves described herein except for the additional elements describedhereinafter.

The scented sleeve 162 b has an upper end 166 b, a lower end 168 b, andan outer peripheral surface 164 b. The scented sleeve 162 b has anopening 170 b at the upper end 166 b thereof, and the scented sleeve 162b may be open at the lower end 168 b or closed with a bottom at thelower end 168 b. In a flattened state (FIG. 17), the scented sleeve 162b has a first side 171 and a second side 173. The scented sleeve 162 balso has an inner peripheral surface 172 b which, when the scentedsleeve 162 b is opened, defines and encompasses an inner retaining space174 b as shown in FIG. 18. When the lower end 168 b of the scentedsleeve 162 b has a closed bottom, a portion of the lower end 168 b maybe inwardly folded to form one or more gussets (not shown) forpermitting a circular bottom of an object such as a flower pot 187 to bedisposed in the inner retaining space 174 b of the scented sleeve 162 b.

As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the scented sleeve 162 b is demarcated intoan upper portion 188 and a lower portion 190. The lower portion 190 ofthe scented sleeve 162 b is generally sized to contain the flower pot187. The upper portion 188 of the scented sleeve 162 b is sized tosubstantially surround and encompass a plant 192 contained in the flowerpot 187 disposed within the lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162b. The scented sleeve 162 b is demarcated into the upper portion 188 andthe lower portion 190 by the detaching element 165 for enabling thedetachment of the upper portion 188 of the scented sleeve 162 b from thelower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 b. In the present version,the detaching element 165 includes a plurality of generallylaterally-oriented or alternating diagonally-oriented perforations 194which extend circumferentially across the outer peripheral surface 164 bof the scented sleeve 162 b.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the lower portion 190 of thescented sleeve 162 b further comprises a base portion 196 and a skirtportion 198. The base portion 196 of the lower portion 190 of the sleeve162 b comprises that part of the lower portion 190 which, when theflower pot 176 bis placed into the lower portion 190, is substantiallyadjacent to and surrounds an outer peripheral surface 199 of the flowerpot 187. The skirt portion 198 of the lower portion 190 of the scentedsleeve 162 b comprises that part of the lower portion 190 which extendsbeyond an open upper end 201 of the flower pot 187 and surrounds atleast a portion of the plant 192 contained within the flower pot 187 andwhich is left to freely extend at an angle, inwardly or outwardly, fromthe base portion 196 when the upper portion 188 of the scented sleeve162 b is detached from the lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 bby actuation of the detaching element 165.

In the intact scented sleeve 162 b, the skirt portion 198 has an upperperipheral edge congruent with the detaching element 165 which isconnected to a lower peripheral edge, also congruent with the detachingelement 165, of the upper portion 188 of the scented sleeve 162 b. InFIGS. 17 and 18, the upper peripheral edge of the skirt portion 198 iscongruent with the series of alternating diagonally-oriented lines ofperforations 194 which together form a zig-zag and comprise a portion ofthe detaching element 165. The detaching element 165 may furthercomprise a plurality of vertical perforations 200 disposed in the upperportion 188 of the sleeve 162 b for facilitating removal of the upperportion 188 from the lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 b andwhich are disposed more or less vertically therein extending between thealternating diagonally oriented lines of perforations 194 of thedetaching element 165 and the upper end 166 b of the scented sleeve 162b.

Referring now to FIGS. 18 and 19, the upper portion 188 of the scentedsleeve 162 b is thereby separable from the lower portion 190 of thescented sleeve 162 b by tearing the upper portion 188 along both theperforations 194 and 200 of the detaching element 165, therebyseparating the upper portion 188 from the lower portion 190 of thescented sleeve 162 b. The lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 bremains disposed as the base portion 196 about the flower pot 187 and asthe skirt portion 198 about the plant 192, thereby forming a scenteddecorative cover 202 as shown in FIG. 19 which substantially surroundsand encompasses the flower pot 187 and the plant 192 contained therein.

The lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 b, for example, the baseand skirt portions 196 and 198, may be modified to provide the lowerportion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 b with the appearance and/ortexture 163 b simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth, whilethe upper portion 188 is left unmodified or is. printed with a design.When the upper portion 188 is detached, the lower portion 190 of thescented sleeve 162 b remains about the flower pot 176 b and therebyforms a scented decorative cover 202 about the flower pot 176 b whichhas the appearance of a decorative cloth cover.

“Detaching element” as used herein, refers to any element, orcombination of elements, or features, such as, but not by way oflimitation, perforations, tear strips, zippers, and any other devices orelements of this nature known in the art, or any combination thereof.Therefore, while perforations are shown and described in detail herein,it will be understood that tear strips, zippers, or any other “detachingelements” known in the art, or any combination thereof, could besubstituted therefor and/or used therewith.

The sleeve 162 b is provided with a scent 175 b disposed on at least aportion of one of the outer peripheral surface 164 b and innerperipheral surface 172 b thereof. The scent 175 b is substantiallyidentical to the scent 28 provided on the sheet of polymeric material 10as described herein before with reference to FIG. 1, and the scent 175 bmay be disposed on the sleeve 162 b by any method described herein orknown in the art. The scent 175 b may be applied prior to or followingthe texture and/or appearance 163 b simulating the texture and/orappearance of cloth, or simultaneously with the texture and/orappearance 163 b simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth.Optionally, the scent 175 may be incorporated in the resin from whichthe sleeve 162 b is formed. The scent 175 b may be disposed on the outerperipheral surface 164 b or inner peripheral surface 172 b of the sleeve162 b depending on the type of scent 175 b used and the desiredapplication of the sleeve 162 b. It is to be understood that the scent175 b is depicted as being disposed on the outer peripheral surface 164b of the sleeve 162 b for illustrative purposes only, and the inventionis not limited to-such embodiment. The scent 175 b may be applied to thelower portion 190 or the upper portion 188 of the sleeve 162 b,depending on the type of scent 175 b used and the desired application ofthe sleeve 162 b. That is, it may be desired to have the scent 175 bdisposed on the lower portion 190 in such a manner that the scent 175 bbecomes more fragrant upon detachment of the upper portion 188.Alternatively, it may be desired to dispose the scent 175 b only on theupper portion 188 so that the scent 175 b may be removed upon detachmentof the upper portion 188 of the sleeve 162 b, if desired by a consumer.In addition, when the scent 175 b is provided on the lower portion 190of the sleeve 162 b, the scent 175 b may only be disposed on a portionof the lower portion 190, such as the base portion 196 or the skirtportion 198 thereof, or the scent 175 b may be disposed on the entirelower portion 190 of the sleeve 162 b.

In a general method of use of the scented sleeve 162 b as the scenteddecorative cover 202 for the flower pot 187, an operator provides thescented sleeve 162 b and the flower pot 187 having the plant 192disposed in a growing medium contained within the flower pot 176 b. Theoperator then opens the scented sleeve 162 b at its upper end 166 b andassures both that the opening 170 b therein is in an open condition andthat the inner peripheral surface 172 b of the scented sleeve 162 b issomewhat expanded outward as well, as shown in FIG. 18. The operatorthen manually or automatically disposes the flower pot 187 into theopening 170 b in the scented sleeve 162 b, the flower pot 187 beingdisposed generally through the upper portion 188 of the scented sleeve162 b into generally the lower portion 190 of the scented sleeve 162 b.The flower pot 187 remains in the lower portion 190 of the scentedsleeve 162 b, permitting the scented sleeve 162 b to substantiallysurround and tightly encompass the flower pot 187. It will be understoodthat alternatively, the scented sleeve 162 b may be provided with anextension (not shown) and the scented sleeve 162 b may be disposed onrods or wickets, and the flower pot 187 may be disposed in the scentedsleeve 162 b either before or after the scented sleeve 162 b has beenremoved from the wickets. Additionally, the upper portion 188 of thescented sleeve 162 b may be removed from the lower portion 190 of thescented sleeve 162 b to form the scented decorative cover 202 ashereinbefore discussed.

Embodiments of FIGS. 20A-20C

Referring now to FIG. 20A, designated generally by the reference numeral210 is a scented polymeric ribbon material having at least one surfacethereof modified so as to provide the scented polymeric ribbon material210 with an appearance and/or texture 212 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth for forming decorative bows and for wrappingitems. That is, at least one surface of a web of polymeric material (notshown) is modified to provide a matte or textured finish which providesthe appearance and/or texture 212 simulating the appearance of cloth.The modification of the web of polymeric material (not shown) to providethe scented polymeric ribbon material 210 with a matte or texturedfinish which provides the texture and/or appearance 212 simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth can be accomplished in several ways.For example, the scented polymeric ribbon material 210 having the matteor textured finish which provides the texture and/or appearance 212simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth can be produced byprinting a web of polymeric material with a matted (i.e. dull finish)ink, by lacquering at least one surface of the sheet of polymericmaterial with a dull finish lacquer or a matting lacquer, by embossingthe sheet of polymeric material to provide an embossed patternsimulating the weave or texture of cloth, or by flocking the sheet ofpolymeric material, or by application of a foamable lacquer or foamableink to the sheet of polymeric material, or by embossing and printing thesheet of polymeric material to provide embossed and printed patternswherein the embossed and printed patterns may be in registry, out ofregistry, or wherein a portion of the embossed and printed patterns arein registry and a portion of the embossed and printed patterns are outof registry. In addition, a matte or textured finish capable ofproviding the sheet of polymeric material with the appearance and/ortexture 212 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can beachieved by extruding a polymeric resin onto a matted or textured chillroll. Thereafter, the web of material having an appearance and/ortexture simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can be cut ina conventional manner to provide the scented polymeric ribbon material210 having the appearance and/or texture 212 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth.

The polymeric ribbon material 210 is provided with a scent 214 disposedon at least a portion of one surface thereof. The scent 214 issubstantially identical to the scent 28 provided on the sheet ofpolymeric material 10 as described herein before with reference to FIG.1, and the scent 214 may be disposed on the polymeric ribbon material210 by any method described herein or known in the art. The scent 214may be disposed on the sheet of polymeric material from which thescented polymeric ribbon material 210 is produced, or may beincorporated in the resin from which the sheet of polymeric material isformed, or may be disposed directly on the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 210.

Any polymeric material capable of being textured or otherwise modifiedto provide the polymeric material with the appearance and/or texture 212simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can be employed in theformulation of the scented polymeric ribbon material 210. For example,the polymeric material employed to produce the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 210 can be the polymeric material 10 (FIG. 1), i.e. apolypropylene film having a thickness in a range of from about 0.1 milto about 30 mil, and more desirably of from about 0.5 mil to about 10mil, or the scented sheet of flexible material 112, i.e., an expandedcore polymeric film having a thickness in a range of from about 0.5 milto about 10 mil.

Referring now to FIG. 20B, designated generally by the reference numeral220 is another embodiment of a scented polymeric ribbon material forforming decorative bows and for wrapping items. The scented polymericribbon material 220 is a laminated material comprising a first web orsheet of material 222 having a thickness of from about 0.5 mil to about10 mil, and more desirably from about 0.6 mil to about 1.25 mil, and asecond web or sheet of material 224 having a thickness in a range offrom about 0.5 mil to about 10 mil, and more desirably from about 0.6mil to about 1.25 mil. The laminated material has an appearance and/ortexture 226 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth and can beproduced by laminating two or more sheets of polymeric film (such as twoor more sheets of polypropylene film or a sheet of polypropylene filmand a sheet of expanded core polymeric film, such as expanded corepolypropylene film), or by laminating a polymeric film (such aspolypropylene film or an expanded core polymeric film) with a sheet ofpaper, metallized foil and the like wherein at least one surface of thelaminated material is textured or modified to assimilate the weave ortexture of cloth. The second web or sheet of material 224 is desirablylaminated to the first web or sheet of material 222 with a coloredadhesive so as to impart a desired color to the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 220. If desired the scented polymeric ribbon material 220 maybe treated or otherwise processed to provide the scented polymericribbon material 220 with a matte or textured finish which provides thetexture and/or appearance 226 simulating the weave or knit of cloth sothat the scented polymeric ribbon material 220 has a cloth likeappearance similar to the scented polymeric ribbon material 210hereinbefore described with reference to FIG. 20A. That is, a matte ortextured finish which provides the texture and/or appearance 226simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth can be printed on thefirst web or sheet of material 222, and thereafter the second web orsheet of material 224 (which in this case is desirably a matte materialof translucent polymeric film) is laminated to the first web or sheet ofmaterial 222 to provide the scented polymeric ribbon material 220 withthe appearance and/or texture 226 simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth. To further enhance the appearance and/or texture 226simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth of the scentedpolymeric ribbon material 220, the second web or sheet of material 224may or may not have a plurality of spatially disposed holes extendingtherethrough. The matte or textured finish can be produced by printingat least one of the first and second webs or sheets of material 222 and224 with a matted (i.e. dull finish) ink, by lacquering at least onesurface of at least one of the first and second webs or sheets ofmaterial 222 and 224 with a dull finish lacquer or a matting lacquer, byflocking at least one of the first and second webs or sheets of material222 and 224, by application of a foamable lacquer or foamable ink to atleast one of the first and second webs or sheets of material 222 and224, by embossing at least one of the first and second webs or sheets ofmaterial 222 and 224 to provide an embossed pattern simulating the weaveor texture of cloth, or by embossing and printing at least one of thefirst and second webs or sheets of material 222 and 224 to provideembossed and printed patterns wherein the embossed and printed patternsmay be in registry, out of registry, or wherein a portion of theembossed and printed patterns are in registry and a portion of theembossed and printed patterns are out of registry. In addition, a matteor textured finish capable of providing the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 220 with the appearance and/or texture 226 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth can be achieved by extruding theresin used to produce one of the first and second webs or sheets ofmaterial 222 and 224 onto a matted or textured chill roll.

The polymeric ribbon material 220 is provided with a scent 228 disposedon at least a portion of one surface thereof. The scent 228 issubstantially identical to the scent 28 provided on the sheet ofpolymeric material 10 as described herein before with reference to FIG.1, and the scent 228 may be disposed on the polymeric ribbon material220 by any method described herein or known in the art. The scent 228may be incorporated in the resin from which the first or second sheet orweb of material 222 or 224 is formed, or may be disposed on the first orsecond sheet or web of polymeric material 222 or 224 prior tolamination, or may be disposed on the laminated material from which thepolymeric ribbon material 220 is produced, or may be disposed directlyon the polymeric ribbon material 220.

Referring now to FIG. 20C, designated generally by the reference numeral230 is another embodiment of a scented polymeric ribbon material forforming decorative bows and for wrapping items. The scented polymericribbon material 230 comprises a polymeric film 232 having an upper.surface 234, a lower surface 236 and a thickness in the range of fromabout 0.1 mil to about 30 mil, and more desirably, from about 0.5 mil toabout 10 mil. An acrylic heat sealable lacquer 238 is applied to atleast one of the upper and lower surfaces 234 and 236 of the polymericfilm 232, such as the lower surface 236 of the polymeric film 232, andat least one of the upper surface 234 and the lower surface 236 of thepolymeric film 232 and/or the acrylic heat sealable lacquer 238 isdesirably modified to provide the scented polymeric ribbon material 230with a matte or textured finish which provides the polymeric ribbonmaterial 230 with the texture and/or appearance 239 simulating theappearance of cloth. The modification to provide the scented polymericribbon material 230 with the appearance and/or texture 239 simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth can be accomplished in severalways. For example, the scented polymeric ribbon material 230 having thematte or textured finish can be produced by printing a web of polymericmaterial with a matted (i.e. dull finish) ink, by lacquering at leastone of the upper surface 234 or the lower surface 236 of the polymericfilm 232 with a dull finish lacquer or a matting lacquer 238, byflocking the polymeric film 232 and/or the acrylic heat sealable lacquer238, by application of a foamable lacquer or foamable ink to thepolymeric film 232 and/or the acrylic heat sealable lacquer 238, byembossing the polymeric film 232 and/or the acrylic heat sealablelacquer 238 to provide an embossed pattern simulating the weave ortexture of cloth, or by embossing and printing the polymeric film 232and/or the acrylic heat sealable lacquer 238 to provide embossed andprinted patterns wherein the embossed and printed patterns may be inregistry, out of registry or wherein a portion of the embossed andprinted patterns are in registry and a portion of the embossed andprinted patterns are out of registry. In addition, a matte or texturedfinish capable of providing the polymeric ribbon material 230 with theappearance and/or texture 239 simulating the appearance and/or textureof cloth can be achieved by extruding a polymeric resin onto a matted ortextured chill roll. Thereafter, the polymeric film 232 having theacrylic heat sealable lacquer 238 disposed thereon and the appearanceand/or texture 239 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth canbe cut in a conventional manner to provide the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 230 having the texture and/or appearance 239 simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth.

The polymeric ribbon material 230 is provided with a scent 240 disposedon at least a portion of one surface thereof. The scent 240 issubstantially identical to the scent 28 provided on the sheet ofpolymeric material 10 as described herein before with reference to FIG.1, and the scent 240 may be disposed on the polymeric ribbon material230 by any method described herein or known in the art. The scent 240may be applied to or incorporated in the polymeric film 232,incorporated in the acrylic heat sealable lacquer 238, or applieddirectly to the polymeric ribbon material 230.

Any polymeric film capable of being textured or otherwise modified toprovide the polymeric material with the appearance and/or texture 239simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can be employed in theformulation of the scented polymeric ribbon material 230. For example,the polymeric film 232 employed to produce the scented polymeric ribbonmaterial 230 can be polypropylene film having a thickness in a range offrom about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil, and more desirably in a range offrom about 0.5 mil to about 10 mil, or an expanded core polymeric filmhaving a thickness in a range of from about 0.6 mil to about 10 mil.

Embodiments of FIGS. 21-22B

Referring now to FIG. 21, designated generally by the reference numeral241 is a system for producing scented decorative grass 242 having anappearance and/or texture 246 (FIG. 22A) simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth in accordance with the present invention. Thatis, at least one surface of a sheet or web of polymeric material ismodified with a matte or textured finish to provide a web of polymericmaterial 244 having an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth (i.e. assimilates cloth inappearance) as hereinbefore described. Thus, the scented decorativegrass 242 produced from the web of polymeric material 244 will also havea matte or textured finish which provides the scented decorative grass242 with the appearance and/or texture 246 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth.

Any polymeric material capable of being textured or otherwise modifiedto provide the web of polymeric material 244 with an appearance and/ortexture simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth can beemployed to produce the scented decorative grass 242 having anappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth including the scented sheet of polymeric material 10 (FIG. 1), thescented sheet of flexible material 112 (FIG. 9A), or the scented sheetof flexible laminated material 112 a (FIG. 9B). For example, thepolymeric material employed to produce the web of polymeric material 244having an appearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/ortexture of cloth can be polypropylene film having a thickness in a rangeof from about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil, and more desirably of from about0.5 mil to about 10 mil, or an expanded core polymeric film having athickness of from about 0.5 mil to about 10 mil, or laminates having athickness of from about 1 mil to about 20 mil. The laminates which canbe used. to produce the web of polymeric material 244 having anappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be formed by laminating two or more webs of polymeric film(such as two or more webs of polypropylene film or a web ofpolypropylene film and a web of expanded core polymeric film, such asexpanded core polypropylene film), or by laminating a polymeric film(such as polypropylene film or an expanded core polymeric film such asexpanded core polypropylene film) with paper, metallized foil and thelike. The only requirement in using a laminate to produce the web ofpolymeric material 244 having an appearance and/or texture simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth is that at least one surface ofthe laminate be capable of being modified to provide the laminate withat least one surface having an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth.

The modification of the web of polymeric material 244 to provide thematte or textured finish can be accomplished in several ways. Forexample, the web of polymeric material 244 having the matte or texturedfinish which provides the web of polymeric material 244 with theappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be produced by printing a web of polymeric material with amatted (i.e. dull finish) ink, by lacquering at least one surface of theweb of polymeric material with a dull finish lacquer or a mattinglacquer, by embossing the web of polymeric material to provide anembossed pattern simulating the weave or texture of cloth, or byflocking the web of polymeric material, or by application of a foamablelacquer or foamable ink to the web of polymeric material, or byembossing and printing the web of polymeric material to provide embossedand printed patterns wherein the embossed and printed patterns may be inregistry, out of registry or wherein a portion of the embossed andprinted patterns are in registry and a portion of the embossed andprinted patterns are out of registry. In addition, a matte or texturedfinish capable of providing the web of polymeric material 244 with anappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth can be achieved by extruding a polymeric resin onto a matted ortextured chill roll.

At least a portion of the segments of decorative grass 242 are providedwith a scent 247 disposed on at least a portion of one surface thereof.The scent 247 is substantially identical to the scent 28 provided on thesheet of polymeric material 10 as described herein before with referenceto FIG. 1, and the scent 247 may be disposed on or incorporated in thesheet of material from which the decorative grass 242 is formed ordirectly on the decorative grass 242 itself by any method describedherein or known in the art.

Referring again to FIG. 21, a roll 248 of the web of polymeric material244 having the texture and/or appearance 246 simulating the textureand/or appearance of cloth is supported on a mandrel 250 having a brakeassembly 252 operably connected thereto so that the web of polymericmaterial 244 having a matte or textured finish 246 can be controllablywithdrawn from the roll 248. The web of polymeric material 244 havingthe texture and/or appearance 246 simulating the texture and/orappearance of cloth is passed through a pair of tension or nip rollers254 and 256 and into a slitter or shredder unit 258 where the web ofpolymeric material 244 having the texture and/or appearance 246simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth is slit to provide aslit web of polymeric material 260 having a plurality of strips ofpredetermined width. The slitting of the web of polymeric material 244having the texture and/or appearance 246 simulating the texture and/orappearance of cloth to produce the slit web of polymeric material 244having a plurality of strips of predetermined width can be accomplishedusing any well known method and device. Such common methods of slittingthe web of polymeric material 244 having the texture and/or appearance246 simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth include: (a)slitting the web of polymeric material 244 having the texture and/orappearance 246 simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth toproduce side-by-side strips of material wherein the longer dimension ofthe strips is in the direction of travel of the web of polymericmaterial 244 having the texture and/or appearance 246 simulating thetexture and/or appearance of cloth, i.e. the machine direction; or (b)slitting the web of polymeric material 244 having the texture and/orappearance 246 simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth so thatthe longer dimension of the strips of material are oblique to thedirection of travel of the web of polymeric material 244 having thetexture and/or appearance 246 simulating the texture and/or appearanceof cloth, i.e. obliquely to the machine direction.

The slit web of polymeric material 260 having a plurality of strips ofpredetermined width is then passed through a cutting unit 262 where thestrips of the slit web of polymeric material 260 are cut into segmentsto form the scented decorative grass 242 having at least one surfacewith a matted or textured finish which provides the scented decorativegrass 242 with the appearance and/or texture 246 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth. A segment 264 of the scenteddecorative grass 242 having at least one matted or textured surface 246which provides the scented decorative grass 242 with an appearanceand/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth isillustrated in FIG. 22A.

Any conventional device and method can be employed as the slitter orshredder unit 258 for slitting of the web of polymeric material 244 toproduce the slit web of polymeric material 260 having a plurality ofstrips of predetermined width and as the cutting unit 262 for cuttingthe strips of the slit web of polymeric material 260 to form the scenteddecorative grass 242 having the appearance and/or texture 246 simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth. Examples of conventional deviceswhich can be used as the slitter or shredder unit 258 and/or as thecutting unit 262 are rotary knives, reciprocating knives, die cutting,laser cutting, water jet cutting, air jet cutting and the like.

The scented decorative grass 242 having the appearance and/or texture246 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth produced bycutting the strips of the slit web of polymeric material 260 can then beconveyed to a storage area (not shown) which may be in the form of asuitable bin, or the scented decorative grass 242 having the appearanceand/or texture 246 simulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth maybe conveyed to a packaging machine, or conveyed to a baling machine forbaling prior to storage. As other alternatives, the scented decorativegrass 242 having the appearance and/or texture 246 simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth may be placed into boxes or cartons,subjected to further processing immediately or held for subsequentprocessing.

Referring now to FIG. 22B, shown therein is a segment 266 of a scenteddecorative grass 268 having an appearance and/or texture 270 simulatingthe appearance and/or texture of cloth produced from the flexible sheetof laminated material 112 a hereinbefore described with reference toFIG. 9B, except that both the upper and lower surfaces of the laminatedmaterial 112 a are provided with a matted or textured finish simulatingcloth so that the scented decorative grass 268 is also provided with amatte or textured finish which provides the texture and/or appearance270 simulating the texture and/or appearance of cloth on an upper andlower surface 272 and 274, respectively, of the segments of the scenteddecorative grass 268, such as the segment 266 illustrated in FIG. 22B.However, it should be understood that the scented decorative grass 268having the appearance and/or texture 270 simulating the appearanceand/or texture of cloth can be produced from any laminated materialwhere at least one surface of the laminated material can be modified,such as by matting or texturing, to provide the laminated material withthe appearance 270 simulating cloth.

At least a portion of the segments 266 of decorative grass 268 areprovided with a scent 276 disposed on at least a portion of a surfacethereof. The scent 276 is substantially identical to the scent 28provided on the sheet of polymeric material 10 as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 1, and the scent 276 may be disposed on orincorporated in the sheet of material from which the decorative grass268 is produced or may be disposed directly on the decorative grass 268itself by any method described herein or known in the art.

The scented decorative grasses having an appearance and/or texturesimulating the appearance and/or texture of cloth prepared in accordancewith the present invention, such as the scented decorative grass 242(FIG. 22A) and the scented decorative grass 268 (FIG. 22B) can also beprovided with various types of curl configurations or can be crimped orotherwise modified. That is, in addition to providing the webs ofmaterial from which the scented decorative grasses are produced with amatted or textured surface which assimilates cloth, various types ofcurls, crimps and combinations thereof can be imparted to the webs ofmaterial prior to slitting the webs of material to produce slit webs ofmaterial, or to the slit web of material prior to cutting the slit websof material to produce the scented decorative grasses having anappearance and/or texture simulating the appearance and/or texture ofcloth. Any method or apparatus capable of imparting the desired curland/or crimp to the webs of material so that the scented decorativegrasses produced from such. webs of material possess a curl and/orcrimped configuration and an appearance and/or texture simulating theappearance and/or texture of cloth can be employed to impart a curland/or crimp to the webs of material. Examples of various methods andapparatus which may be used to impart curl configurations to the webs ofmaterial so that the decorative grasses produced from such webs ofmaterial possess a curl configuration are described in co-pending U.S.patent application U.S. Ser. No. 09/591,920, entitled “Method andApparatus For Making Curled Decorative Grass” which is hereby expresslyincorporated herein by reference. Crimping machines capable of impartingthe desired crimp to the webs of material so that the decorative grassesproduced from such webs of material possess a crimped configuration arewell known and commercially available. One method for imparting a crimpconfiguration to the webs of material so that the decorative grassesproduced from such webs of material possess a crimped configuration isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,286, entitled “Method Of Forming CurledOr Crimped Decorative Elements Having An Optical Effect”, issued toWeder on Apr. 6, 1999, the specification of which is hereby expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of the variouscomponents, elements and assemblies described herein or in the steps orthe sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

What is claimed:
 1. A scented decorative grass having an appearance ortexture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth wherein thescented decorative grass is produced by cutting a web of polymericmaterial into segments, the web of polymeric material comprising: asheet of polymeric material having an upper surface and a lower surfacewherein at least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof is modifiedto provide the sheet of polymeric material with an appearance or texturesimulating the appearance or texture of cloth; and a scent disposed uponat least a portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces of the sheetof polymeric material such that at least a portion of the segments ofdecorative grass produced therefrom are provided with a scent disposedthereon.
 2. The scented decorative grass of claim 1 wherein the sheet ofpolymeric material has a thickness in a range of about 0.1 mil to about30 mil.
 3. The scented decorative grass of claim 1 wherein the sheet ofpolymeric material is formed of a material selected from the groupconsisting of polypropylene, polyethylene, and expanded core polymericfilm.
 4. The scented decorative grass of claim 1 wherein the appearanceor texture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth of the sheet ofpolymeric material is provided by at least one of printing a pattern onthe sheet of polymeric material, embossing a pattern on the sheet ofpolymeric material and combinations thereof.
 5. The scented decorativegrass of claim 1 wherein the appearance or texture simulating theappearance or texture of cloth of the sheet of polymeric material isprovided by at least one of flocking the sheet of polymeric material,applying a foamable lacquer or foamable ink to the sheet of polymericmaterial, and combinations thereof.
 6. The scented decorative grass ofclaim 1 wherein the appearance or texture simulating the appearance ortexture of cloth of the sheet of polymeric material is provided byprinting a pattern on at least a portion of one of the upper and lowersurfaces of the sheet of polymeric material, and wherein the scent isdisposed in an ink composition utilized to print the pattern on thesheet of polymeric material.
 7. The scented decorative grass of claim 1wherein the scent is selected from the group consisting of odorsnormally associated with flowers, plants, vegetables, foods, grasses,food condiments, herbs, spices, woods, roots, cloth, perfumes, andcombinations thereof.
 8. A scented decorative grass having an appearanceor texture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth wherein thescented decorative grass is produced by cutting a web of polymericmaterial into segments, the web of polymeric material comprising: asheet of polymeric material having an upper surface, a lower surface andan embossed pattern on at least one of the upper and lower surfacesthereof wherein the embossed pattern provides the sheet of polymericmaterial with an appearance or texture simulating the appearance ortexture of cloth; and a scent disposed upon at least a portion of one ofthe upper and lower surfaces of the sheet of polymeric material suchthat at least a portion of the segments of decorative grass producedtherefrom are provided with a scent disposed thereon.
 9. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 8 wherein the sheet of polymeric material isfurther provided with a printed pattern which cooperates with theembossed pattern to provide the sheet of polymeric material with theappearance or texture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth. 10.The scented decorative grass of claim 8 wherein the sheet of polymericmaterial has a thickness in a range of about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil.11. The scented decorative grass of claim 8 wherein the sheet ofpolymeric material is selected from the group consisting ofpolypropylene, polyethylene and expanded core polymeric film.
 12. Thescented decorative grass of claim 8 wherein the sheet of polymericmaterial is further provided with a printed patern which cooperates withthe embossed pattern to provide the sheet of polymeric material with theappearance or texture simulating the appearance or texture of cloth, andwherein the scent is disposed in an ink composition utilized to printthe pattern on the sheet of polymeric material.
 13. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 8 wherein the scent is selected from the groupconsisting of odors normally associated with flowers, plants,vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs, spices, woods,roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 14. A scenteddecorative grass having an appearance or texture simulating theappearance or texture of cloth wherein the scented decorative grass isproduced by cutting a web of polymeric material into segments, the webof polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymeric material havingan upper surface, a lower surface, a printed pattern on at least one ofthe upper and lower surfaces thereof and an embossed pattern on at leastone of the upper and lower surfaces thereof, the printed pattern and theembossed pattern being in registry with one another, wherein the printedpattern and embossed pattern cooperate to provide the sheet of polymericmaterial with an appearance or texture simulating the appearance ortexture of cloth on at least one surface thereof; and a scent disposedupon at least a portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces of thesheet of polymeric material such that at least a portion of the segmentsof decorative grass produced therefrom are provided with a scentdisposed thereon.
 15. The scented decorative grass of claim 14 whereinthe sheet of polymeric material has a thickness in a range of about 0.1mil to about 30 mil and is selected from the group consisting ofpolypropylene, polyethylene and expanded core polymeric film.
 16. Thescented decorative grass of claim 14 wherein the scent is disposed in anink composition utilized to print the pattern on the sheet of polymericmaterial.
 17. The scented decorative grass of claim 14 wherein the scentis selected from the group consisting of odors normally associated withflowers, plants, vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs,spices, woods, roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 18. Ascented decorative grass having an appearance or texture simulating theappearance or texture of cloth on a surface thereof wherein the scenteddecorative grass is produced by cutting a web of polymeric material intosegments, the web of polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymericmaterial having an upper surface, a lower surface, a printed pattern onat least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof and an embossedpattern on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof, theprinted pattern and the embossed pattern being out of registry with oneanother, wherein the printed pattern and embossed pattern cooperate toprovide the sheet of polymeric material with an appearance or texturesimulating the appearance or texture of cloth on at least one surfacethereof; and a scent disposed upon at least a portion of one of theupper and lower surfaces of the sheet of polymeric material such that atleast a portion of the segments of decorative grass produced therefromare provided with a scent disposed thereon.
 19. The scented decorativegrass of claim 17 wherein the sheet of polymeric material has athickness in a range of about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil and is selectedfrom the group consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene and expandedcore polymeric film.
 20. The scented decorative grass of claim 18wherein the scent is disposed in an ink composition utilized to printthe pattern on the sheet of polymeric material.
 21. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 18 wherein the scent is selected from thegroup consisting of odors normally associated with flowers, plants,vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs, spices, woods,roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 22. A scenteddecorative grass having an appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth wherein the scented decorative grass isproduced by cutting a web of polymeric material into segments, the webof polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymeric material havingan upper surface and a lower surface wherein at least one of the upperand lower surfaces thereof is modified to provide the sheet of polymericmaterial with an appearance and texture simulating the appearance andtexture of cloth; and a scent disposed upon at least a portion of one ofthe upper and lower surfaces of the sheet of polymeric material suchthat at least a portion of the segments of decorative grass producedtherefrom are provided with a scent disposed thereon.
 23. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 22 wherein the sheet of polymeric material hasa thickness in a range of about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil.
 24. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 22 wherein the sheet of polymeric material isformed of a material selected from the group consisting ofpolypropylene, polyethylene, and expanded core polymeric film.
 25. Thescented decorative grass of claim 22 wherein the appearance and texturesimulating the appearance and texture of cloth of the sheet of polymericmaterial is provided by at least one of printing a pattern on the sheetof polymeric material, embossing a pattern on the sheet of polymericmaterial and combinations thereof.
 26. The scented decorative grass ofclaim 22 wherein the appearance and texture simulating the appearanceand texture of cloth of the sheet of polymeric material is provided byat least one of flocking the sheet of polymeric material, applying afoamable lacquer or foamable ink to the sheet of polymeric material, andcombinations thereof.
 27. The scented decorative grass of claim 22wherein the appearance and texture simulating the appearance and textureof cloth of the sheet of polymeric material is provided by printing apattern on at least a portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces ofthe sheet of polymeric material, and wherein the scent is disposed in anink composition utilized to print the pattern on the sheet of polymericmaterial.
 28. The scented decorative grass of claim 22 wherein the scentis selected from the group consisting of odors normally associated withflowers, plants, vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs,spices, woods, roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 29. Ascented decorative grass having an appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth wherein the scented decorative grass isproduced by cutting a web of polymeric material into segments, the webof polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymeric material havingan upper surface, a lower surface and an embossed pattern on at leastone of the upper and lower surfaces thereof wherein the embossed patternprovides the sheet of polymeric material with an appearance and texturesimulating the appearance and texture of cloth; and a scent disposedupon at least a portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces of thesheet of polymeric material such that at least a portion of the segmentsof decorative grass produced therefrom are provided with a scentdisposed thereon.
 30. The scented decorative grass of claim 29 whereinthe sheet of polymeric material is further provided with a printedpattern which cooperates with the embossed pattern to provide the sheetof polymeric material with the appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth.
 31. The scented decorative grass ofclaim 29 wherein the sheet of polymeric material has a thickness in arange of about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil.
 32. The scented decorative grassof claim 29 wherein the sheet of polymeric material is selected from thegroup consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene and expanded corepolymeric film.
 33. The scented decorative grass of claim 29 wherein thesheet of polymeric material is further provided with a printed patternwhich cooperates with the embossed pattern to provide the sheet ofpolymeric material with the appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth, and wherein the scent is disposed in anink composition utilized to print the pattern on the sheet of polymericmaterial.
 34. The scented decorative grass of claim 29 wherein the scentis selected from the group consisting of odors normally associated withflowers, plants, vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs,spices, woods, roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 35. Ascented decorative grass having an appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth wherein the scented decorative grass isproduced by cutting a web of polymeric material into segments, the webof polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymeric material havingan upper surface, a lower surface, a printed pattern on at least one ofthe upper and lower surfaces thereof and an embossed pattern on at leastone of the upper and lower surfaces thereof, the printed pattern and theembossed pattern being in registry with one another, wherein the printedpattern and embossed pattern cooperate to provide the sheet of polymericmaterial with an appearance and texture simulating the appearance andtexture of cloth on at least one surface thereof; and a scent disposedupon at least a portion of one of the upper and lower surfaces of thesheet of polymeric material such that at least a portion of the segmentsof decorative grass produced therefrom are provided with a scentdisposed thereon.
 36. The scented decorative grass of claim 35 whereinthe sheet of polymeric material has a thickness in a range of about 0.1mil to about 30 mil and is selected from the group consisting ofpolypropylene, polyethylene and expanded core polymeric film.
 37. Thescented decorative grass of claim 35 wherein the scent is disposed in anink composition utilized to print the pattern on the sheet of polymericmaterial.
 38. The scented decorative grass of claim 35 wherein the scentis selected from the group consisting of odors normally associated withflowers, plants, vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs,spices, woods, roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.
 39. Ascented decorative grass having an appearance and texture simulating theappearance and texture of cloth on a surface thereof wherein the scenteddecorative grass is produced by cutting a web of polymeric material intosegments, the web of polymeric material comprising: a sheet of polymericmaterial having an upper surface, a lower surface, a printed pattern onat least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof and an embossedpattern on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof, theprinted pattern and the embossed pattern being out of registry with oneanother, wherein the printed pattern and embossed pattern cooperate toprovide the sheet of polymeric material with an appearance and texturesimulating the appearance and texture of cloth on at least one surfacethereof; and a scent disposed upon at least a portion of one of theupper and lower surfaces of the sheet of polymeric material such that atleast a portion of the segments of decorative grass produced therefromare provided with a scent disposed thereon.
 40. The scented decorativegrass of claim 39 wherein the sheet of polymeric material has athickness in a range of about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil and is selectedfrom the group consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene and expandedcore polymeric film.
 41. The scented decorative grass of claim 39wherein the scent is disposed in an ink composition utilized to printthe pattern on the sheet of polymeric material.
 42. The scenteddecorative grass of claim 39 wherein the scent is selected from thegroup consisting of odors normally associated with flowers, plants,vegetables, foods, grasses, food condiments, herbs, spices, woods,roots, cloth, perfumes, and combinations thereof.